


A Short Series of the Pining of Kozume Kenma.

by ieatbees101



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hugs, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:42:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24132277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ieatbees101/pseuds/ieatbees101
Summary: Just a small part four series of Kenma pining because I love this boy.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 71





	1. Sanctuary

Kenma knew other teams could be scary, (the very idea of interaction scared him down the bone, after all) but he’d never felt the need to run from another member before. Something about the smile cast towards him from Karasuno’s monster setter had rubbed him the wrong way, activating what the blond could only call his “fight or flight” response. Speedily, he’d ran away, desperate to avoid confrontation with someone so intimidating. However, today wasn’t his day, and confrontation was inevitable with so many people littering the gymnasium. 

As per usual, Kenma had been staring at the floor as he ran, and didn’t notice there was another person in front of him before he’d crashed into them, sending the volleyballs they had in their hands flying.   
“S-sorry.” he muttered quickly, attempting to duck around them and run out of the open gym door, already having embarrassed himself enough for one day - there was only so much his heart could take.  
“It’s fine. Kenma, right?” When the melodic, feminine tone met his ears, Kenma immediately stopped and glanced down, being cast into the oceans of two, deep blue eyes. Taking a second to collect himself before talking to the tiny coach, Kenma gave a slow nod.  
“Yeah. Sorry.” The girl snorted, waving her hand with a laugh that seemed much larger than life and was apparently quite nice to watch bloom on her face with a smile.  
“Stop apologising, it’s fine! Spike me in the face or trip me up and then start apologising.” Though a little confused by the examples used, Kenma just nodded again. 

Coach and setter stood in silence for a little bit, the former watching the latter, who looked over her shoulder to see the rest of her team picking up the mess they’d made.   
“Gahh…” the girl suddenly sighed, making Kenma jump up in fright, worried before she continued, “no one told me there were gonna be cute guys on our rival teams.” Kenma was utterly stunned by the girl’s voiced inner thought. It came entirely out of left-field and the boy didn’t really know how to respond, or if he should have even heard the confession anyway. (Y/n) seemed to realise she wasn’t alone in an instant and her eyes widened a bit.  
“Oh, right.”   
It was that simple for her to lose track of where she is? Whilst Kenma was somewhat distracted with collecting himself from the girl’s sudden comment, (y/n) dug around in her pockets, presenting a pen and scrap of paper from it.   
“I’m afraid I’m gonna need your number.”   
“...what?”   
“Unless you want me to give you mine?” Shaking his head, Kenma tried to tune back into reality but was completely lost.  
“No, what do you mean?” (Y/n) sighed, her eyebrows furrowing a bit in frustration.  
“Look. Do you want me to explain it in layman’s terms?” she asked with a slight tap of her foot. Confused, Kenma looked off to the side.  
“Um. I guess.” With a slightly aggravated and impatient groan, (y/n) handed over the pen and paper to the setter, who blankly gazed at the items.  
“I'm (y/n), and I think you’re cute and charming so I want your number so we don’t have to be around these lot,” she motioned towards the mixed groups of yelling Karasuno and Nekoma students throwing volleyballs at each other, “when we talk.”   
“...you...want my number?”   
“YES!” the girl yelled, making Kenma cringe a bit before she broke into laughter, coaxing the boy into his own set of quiet giggles.It helped to flush some of the nervous anxiety out of him and he pressed pen to paper, slowly writing out digits.  
“Um...okay. But I’ve never done this.”   
“I can tell.”


	2. Don't Think Twice

The numbers laid out across the screen never changed, no matter how much Kenma might have stared at them. The boy wasn’t the best at pulling intimidating faces, but, if looks could kill, the number five would have long been obliterated from human consciousness. Why did it have to take so long? He’d told himself constantly that things could be much worse - they could live in a different country, they could be unable to contact each other, he could have never even met his soulmate - but his brain was starting to reject the idea, resisting it like one would a drug. His eyes followed the trickling, blue line down his phone again, cursing when it stopped and shutting his phone off, leaving him in complete darkness. It was late - too late for him to be lamenting about something as ludicrous as a crush. He’d only met the girl a couple of times, after all; two, if he could think straight enough to count. Once they had spent the time as complete strangers, and the second was strictly as friends. What wouldn’t he give, though, to see her again?

When his phone shook, Kenma immediately pried his eyes back open, not letting the demons of sleep pull him under just yet. After all, the buzz had gotten his heart racing in an instant, as ashamed as he would be to admit it to anyone.

(Y/n): I was scouring the internet and I saw there’s a convention happening in Fukushima some time next month.

Was it an invitation? A suggestion? Or just a random text? Kenma sat up straighter in his bed, leaning against the frame.

Kenma: Oh. Sounds cool.

He couldn’t jump to any sort of conclusion - they simply weren’t that close yet. They’d spoken more times over text than in person.

(Y/n): I was gonna go with Tsukki, but he cancelled on me last minute ;-;

Kenma rolled his eyes with a small laugh. It was definitely something he expected from the apathetic beanpole the girl had for a friend.

(Y/n): So now I have an extra ticket...should I just sell it? I’m not sure how much con tickets go for.

Kenma: I’m not sure. I’ve never had to sell any.

(Y/n): Lucky! :P

The setter chuckled under his breath again before the concept stuck. Does that mean she often had to go alone? His smile quickly fell.

Kenma: Why don’t you give one to a friend? You don’t have to sell it. 

Shinko: T_T Everyone’s busy, at least the people that would be willing to come with me…

Inside, Kenma told his racing heart to calm down and his brain to stop being so presumptuous. There was no way they could meet up to go somewhere, the distance was too far to travel alone and they weren’t that close. Are they? There was no way.

(Y/n): Hey! If you’re free, why don’t you come with me to Fukushima? ^o^

Maybe there was a way.

Hovering over the buttons of his phone’s keyboard, Kenma’s fingers were shaking, trembling with every loud, audible beat of his heart. Every introverted, icy instinct in his brain was now telling him to say “no,” to put his phone down and go to sleep in the hopes that the guilt would plague his nightmares rather than his waking moments. 

Kenma: I can see if I’m free.

Instead, Kenma’s fingers had moved without his conscious thought, voluntarily accepting the invitation for him rather than consulting his anxious brain first. He wanted to delete the message before she saw it, to make sure she never saw that he would even consider getting closer to her than he already was, but fate wouldn’t have it.

(Y/n): Really???   
You would???   
/◕ヮ◕)/

From then on, Kenma knew it was impossible for him to take anything back. Seeing (y/n) so happy from something so small that he hadn’t even done or even confirmed for her yet broke his heart. 

Kenma: I would.


	3. Face My Fears

“Wooow. This is way bigger than most of the conventions I usually go to!” (Y/n) cooed, her head and body swiveling around as she ogled the convention center and stalls surrounding her. Kenma had certainly seen bigger conventions, but this was larger than normal. The large, glancing crowds always made the blond feel nervous. Typically, he would buy whatever he wanted as quickly as possible and leave without another word. He wasn’t the type to stick around to talk to cosplayers or the people who managed stalls (though he would make an exception if he’d gone there for a gaming tournament.)   
“Fukushima’s is usually pretty big.” he stated, scouting a few of the nearby stalls for games or consoles before turning back to (y/n). Her eyes were practically alight with admiration-fueled fire. The girl had the widest smile plastered onto her face and blinding happiness was almost radiating off of her as if it were the first convention she’d ever attended. 

“Is there anything you want in particular?” (Y/n) asked. Kenma caught himself staring and diverted his line of sight immediately, lazily pointing to a stall containing racks of retro games and their consoles.  
“Oh!” (Y/n) jumped a bit, obviously too overexcited, and started towards the stall, expecting Kenma to follow quickly along behind. Unfortunately, there were a lot of people as per the usual of conventions (and a lot of cosplayers in obstructing gear) and Kenma lagged behind, trying his best to duck underneath people and skirt around them without catching their attention. He was looking at the floor, much too anxious to pick his head up in the fear that someone would catch his eye. Slowly, the crowded feeling started to suffocate the boy more and more and he felt like leaving back out the way he came. It was tempting since he was struggling to breathe and just texting (y/n) what he wanted and giving her the money sounded a lot simpler. After much debating, though, he wasn't given the option as a hand reached out and grasped his own, clutching it tight. And, as Kenma was about to wring it off of him, the person pulled him in close to their body and he glanced up from the floor, being met with the same warm smile from before.  
“We don’t want you getting lost, huh? Us short people have to stick together!” (Y/n) giggled, letting go of Kenma’s body, turning around and guiding him out of the thick of the crowd with careful steps and consideration.

“Sorry we had to go through all that.” Kenma apologised sadly after the pair emerged from the opposite side of the jungle, staring at the carpeted floor, ashamed. The girl shook her head, still beaming.  
“Nu-uh, it was fine! It was the only way to get through and I should’ve been more mindful of where you were.” she consoled. Kenma found the mellow tone of (y/n)’s voice calming, helping the drowning anxiety from before gradually washing away, only to be replaced by another kind of nervousness. He was afraid she could hear how hard his heart was hitting his chest, especially when, from dragging his eyes up from the floor, he saw their hands were still interlaced.  
“Um, (y/n), I-.”   
“Hey, look!” the girl cried eagerly, pulling Kenma in the direction of the stall he’d indicated to earlier. Her free hand pointed towards a black case with colourful artwork on the front.  
“I used to play that all the time as a kid with my dad!” (Y/n) was grinning ecstatically, as if she’d won some sort of prize, and Kenma couldn’t help but sit back and watch as she picked up the case, showing it off to him with pride. He gave a simple nervous nod and hum in response, recognising the game, but too shy to say anything.The setter was afraid he would go off on a tangent and scare her, so he didn’t say anything at all, simply losing himself in the protective and enchanting warmth their joined hands infused him with.

After (y/n) had finished talking to the cashier, she reached into her bag, letting go of Kenma’s hand to pull out her wallet and the money inside. Clenching his hand a few times, the limb felt empty and cold to the second year and he did nothing but stare at the sweaty hand until (y/n) piped up again.  
“So, what did you want from here?”  
“N-nothing, it’s something I can’t get.”  
“Huh? I’ll help pay-!” the girl exclaimed, pulling out more money from her wallet. Shocked, Kenma hastily shook his head and hands in front of him.  
“N-no! It’s fine, don’t pay for anything of mine.”


	4. Simple and Clean

Skipping along, a couple shopping bags in both hands, (y/n) joyfully spun around to face Kenma, who was walking a little slower behind her.  
“Today was amazing!” she enthused, flashing him an iconic smile. Cat eyes looked away towards some other end of the train station and Kenma started to play with his fingers nervously.  
“Yeah, it was.” he agreed quietly. (Y/n) stopped, dropping her bags before launching herself at Kenma, wrapping both arms around the stunned boy. She refrained from squeezing him too tight, afraid to break the fragile boy in her trained arms.   
“Thank you for actually agreeing to come out with me.” the girl whispered, a subtle lilt of sadness to her appraisal. Kenma, shocked to stillness, just let out a hum in acknowledgement. When he tried to return the hug (albeit very slowly,) it was too late, and (y/n) pulled away, jogging back over to her bags and hauling them back onto her arms.  
“We should do this again sometime. Some place less crowded.” she suggested. The second year nodded, silently trying to bat away the pink coating on his cheeks. It wasn’t like that, he told himself. But, then again, when he tried to contradict himself, look where he ended up. Still, Kenma thought, he couldn’t be too optimistic: he was just Kozume Kenma, after all.   
“We’re on different platforms, obviously, so this is where we part, Kenma.” It wasn’t the first time (y/n) had said his name, but the dulcet tone met the setter’s ears much differently than it had done before. There was a palette of colourful emotions to the first year’s voice he’d failed to notice before. Perhaps it was because they’d gotten closer that day, or because he’d only began to fall for her harder, but, behind all the excitability and abundant joy, there was always some sort of melancholic twinge to (y/n)’s tone.   
“I’ll make sure to tell you if Tsukki ditches me again, okay? Maybe we can go out for ice cream next time. There’s this really nice place in Niigata near the beach…” As (y/n) began to ramble about her previous encounter with dessert on the East Coast, Kenma had long since spaced out, trying to take in every visual aspect of the girl before they had to leave each other again for god knows how long. It was impossible to tell just how long it would be. He noted how her eyes sparkled whether there was light or not when she talked about something she loved or Kenma himself (he’d come to notice) - if there was no light, (y/n) certainly created it. He noted how happy her smile made him feel, able to carry away any anxiety or paranoia like the tide, seemingly with ease. And he remembered how nice it had felt to hold her hand.   
“Let’s go there sometime, yeah?”  
“R-right.” Kenma wasn’t entirely sure whether he was agreeing to ice cream or not, but, whatever it was, as long as it was with (y/n), he didn’t particularly mind. 

And, just like that, the girl was gone. She stepped onto the train and practically disappeared from Kenma’s life entirely. It would have killed him if that was the feeling kept in his aching heart forever, but his phone quickly buzzed with a text from the girl reiterating details about ice cream and the day they’d just had with her fair share of emoticons Kenma found extremely cute. When he sat on his own train back to Tokyo, headphones in and listening to a playlist he’d made especially for the occasion, the setter pulled a sheet of paper out of his bag, staring at the fake etchings that had carved both (y/n)’s and his features onto it. It was a silly souvenir from a silly machine, but Kenma felt his heart swell three sizes when he gazed upon it. 

Suppose it was as good a way of remembering her smile until they met again.


End file.
